seattle1

Hello: Congratulations Darius. Yamato is such a nice group and by one way of thinking about the chronology it has the pride of place as the earliest of the gokadan. Because of the importance of Nara prior to the capital being moved to Kyoto many of the swords made there products of sectarian manufacture and never signed so the expectation of signature is less than with for example Yamashiro den. From the date or your paper it probably was issued when Tanobe sensei still had active participation at the Museum and he may have played a role in its designation as to group. All things considered, nice going. Arnold F.

Hello: Proportionately it looks unnecessarily long for the function of a yoroidoshi; it just looks like a husky blade. Mei might (!) be Mitsukiyo. Arnold F.

Hello: This thread may be pretty well exhausted as a lot of interesting and constructive stuff was discussed, but let me try to add one other dimension. It is correct as has been mentioned that quality, condition, rarity, the track record of various smiths and schools, and even the company a blade keeps for a given year when it goes to shinsa, all matter. We have been directed to the NBTHK criteria as can be found through Mark and Danny Massey's posted material, however there is sort of a "secret sauce" that gets stirred into the final mix, and that is the art-historical assessment of a blade that sometimes, perhaps most times, becomes a consideration. If you look at the published criteria I think you will find that they tend to operationalize features that gets the outcome fairly close to being determined for most blades, but everything is not rule driven. Only with reference to Japan we should recognize that the NBTHK is an artifact of a museum, and it has been created and managed for many years by men who essentially were scholars, such persons as Drs. Homma and Sato, and until recently, Tanobe sensei. All three major National Museums in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara have a historical focus on research, collection and display. The same can be said of the Sano Museum in Shizuoka, headed by Ms. Watanabe, the Hayashibara Museum in Okayama, etc. There have been many other serious scholars with a deep appreciation of the times when a blade was made in Japan, sometimes private individuals like the late Dr. Fukunaga and Yoshikawa Koen, or dealers such as Iida sensei. The impact of the art-historical and scholarly bent to sword study in Japan has a real impact on Juyo assessment, not so much in criteria development, but literally in the statistical distribution of schools and smiths which receive Juyo or higher designations. In individual cases such a seeking of just where a blade "fits in" to the scheme of assessment will be revealed in the long and thorough sayagaki written by Tanobe sensei: a blade might be put in a particularly important historical episode; its horimono might suggest a smith's connection with another group, for example as Kunimichi's horimono ties him in more closely with the Mishina group than other Horikawa smiths; the robust Satsuma blades might connect with Satsuma's opposition to the Tokugawa Shogunate, etc. All such things can't be put into a rule book, but when things of significant historical interest are seen, they can influence a Juyo decision outcome. Whether a suguba Korekazu triggers a plus, perhaps for some reason determining its rarity, or a negative impact, is impossible for most of us to know. Arnold F.

Hello: I am just guessing, but isn't it logical to suppose that once a blade has Tanobe sensei's sayagaki that it has probably already run its last race? Arnold F.

Hello: I was not trying to suggest that a sword without a star is necessarily other than a genuine gendaito. To my knowledge no Yasukuni Jinja or Minatogawa Jinga sword e.g. ever had a star or any other stamp and you can't get more gendaito than that. The whole discussion and literature wherein stars are mentioned never seems to catch up to the reality of what they convey; and from some folk who definitely should know better, the Minatogawa kiku-sui rendering continues to be called a stamp and it most definitely is not. I have no opinion on the blade Jim has shown as electronic kantei is such a mine field, though I suppose I have sinned in that regard too. Arnold F.

Hello Jim: A star would assure you that it is a gendai and not a gunto machine made piece as the star is an Army acceptance mark. Arnold F.

Hello: In an attempt to clarify a little further beyond Wah's observation that distinguishes awards of the state from mukansa, which only indicates a craftsman need undergo no further demonstrations of skill, I would point out the following. Prior to the designation Teishitsu Gigei-in a smith might be designated Kunaisho Kogei-in or Kunaisho Goyo Kaji, roughly meaning Imperial Household Craftsmen, invoked in 1888. Smiths holding that status were Suguwara (Miyamoto) Kanenori, Horii Taneyoshi, and after his death, his son Horii Taneaki, also Sakurai Munetsugu, Morioka Masayoshi, the Aizu smith Kanesada, Henmi Yoshitaka, Miyaguchi Ikkansai Shigetoshi and his student/nephew Kasama Ikkansai Shigetoshi. I do not know if there were others. In 1890 the more exalted rank of Teishitsu Gigei-in was created, it meaning Imperial Court Artist, and it was the pre-war equivalent of Ningen Kokuho, or Preservers of Intangible Cultural Properties, a.k.a. "Living National Treasure". Sword smiths were not early recipients, surprising because Meiji was a sword fancier himself, but other sword related craftsmen were designated. In 1890 Kano Natsuo, and in 1896 Unno Shomin were recognized. Other crafts were recognized as well. On April 4 of Meiji 39 (1906), the Kanenori mentioned above, and Gassan Sadakazu were designated Teishitsu Gigei-in, and they were the only two smiths so chosen. Both of those smiths had close connections to the Court, and why other fine smiths of the era, such as Hayama Enshin, were not designated remain matters of speculation. Arnold F.

Hello: I agree with Brian. Ko kissaki tend to be found, if original, in very early blades dating to Kamakura or before. The start of all sword judgement, a super risky task from images alone, is study of the sugata and from the images provided the shape doesn't suggest very early. The best few dollars you can spend, to ramp up knowledge of fundamentals and the pitfalls of hasty inferences from the nakago, should go to buying a copy of Nobuo Nakahara. Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector's Guide (Kodansa, 2010). If the blade is Kanbun, a period when blades tended to be long and somewhat narrowing towards a smallish kissaki, the number of mekugi-ana seen hardly make sense; one shortening, perhaps, but three? Arnold F.

Hello: Beautiful indeed. Please tell us what you mean by "commission". I must be missing something. Arnold F.

Hello: The whole ad is a learning experience, as while it is not a Minatogawa Jinja, that forge having been bombed out months prior, once again the incorrect information is repeated that it carries a Kikusui stamp. They are not stamps, but individually engraved with great care and tight parameters, and the one shown is a crude chiseled example that is hardly at all close to the correct examples. Arnold F.

Hello: Assessment of the quality of the tsuba is in the eye of the beholder I suppose, however the initial execution of the design elements, the quality of the kebori, and the surface condition are substantially wanting IMHO. As to Kyo or Owari, a general feeling, imperfectly derived from a photograph, usually assigns, without consideration of other factors, those that are more robust to Owari. The tsuba in question does not express that strength. The key though is the seppa-dai. If you examine a large number of Kyo and Owari in comparison with one another, e.g., in the book Sasano, you will see that the upper left and right quadrants of the seppa-dai tend (and it is only "tend" and a numbers comparison) to by more asymmetric in Kyo than Owari; particularly the upper right of the Kyo tends to be a little less rounded in comparison with Owari. That is not always seen, but often, and were the tsuba a strong Owari design, it could perhaps be ignored. Arnold F.

Hello: I believe it is Kyo-sukashi, though not of the highest quality, and the Kyo guess comes from the shape of the seppa-dai. Arnold F.

Hello Bob: I have been trying to figure our your point of the dollar sinking vis-à-vis the JPY. At a moment of time and abstracting from transaction cost and other impediments, spot exchange rates are not a determinant of investment or speculation choices. In the last year the Japanese Yen has appreciated about 19 % relative to the USD, and at the same time the US Treasury 10 year has fallen from about 2.4% to about 1.4%, an historic low, and a fall of about 42%. In another post thread recently in response to another question by Stephen I tried to explain the appreciation of the JPY over the last few years, and said that in lieu of some "great unforeseen" it doesn't look like it will reverse course anytime soon. I have never recommended investing in art for some fairly simple economic reasons, but nonetheless at this time it is not surprising to see price appreciatio0n in upper end art objects of all kinds, including Japanese swords. In the paragraph above two points jump out: 1. a proxy for the opportunity cost of capital can be taken to be the US 10 year, and it has fallen in a year by about 42%, and: 2. the JPY has strongly appreciated. I think it follows thereby that by buying storable tangibles, as most art objects are, the forgone opportunity cost of doing that has fallen almost flat, and it is obvious that if you buy a tangible, like a Japanese sword, which probably has its market value still determined in Japan, wouldn't you want that asset value (JPY!) to be appreciating? It seems therefore that the rise in the Yen is an incentive to buy not to forego buying, again, other things equal. When people do acquire tangible art objects, the risk, relative to financial alternatives yielding similar nominal returns tends to be forgotten, and therein lies the risk of "investing" in art. I believe we should buy such things for what they are and not for imagined future returns. Arnold F.

Hello: It probably did sell as when something does not sell it either goes into their for sale group at a given price, or it is withdrawn. Some pricey blades have been moving and the upper end of the market, along with the lower end. There are many factors at play but in that Japanese swords are pure appreciation plays on the long side as they only yield utility to the owner and no flow of income, therefore when the cost of money is so very low internationally as it is now, the risk of holding such tangibles is reduced, other things equal, and one would expect some strength at the market's upper end. The benchmark US 10 year Treasury is at an historic low and negative interest rates are popping up all over, so I would think that lots of tangibles like swords, gold bullion - which has had a nice run up recently - would be strong. As a caveat however I am definitely not advising anyone to buy Japanese swords as investment vehicles. Arnold F.

Hello: Aoi reports this morning a successful sale of the Sanemori. I wasn't watching the auction last night so I don't know if it went over the starting price. Does anyone have further details? Arnold F.

Hello: Omi (no) Kami Tadahiro. Arnold F.

Hello: The smith seems to be Watanabe Kanenaga.. Arnold F.

Bryant: It seems that the consensus is that you don't have a legal problem or an obligation to go into the reasons for this or that further, however I believe it is a good idea to get a copy of the torokusho (registration certificate) last with the sword. It could be an initial registration done in Showa 26 or 27, or if renewed later it might indicate the original earlier date. I have noticed in recent years that the NBTHK will sometimes make a notation on their origami of the registration data. The reason such information might, and it is only "might!", indicate with an early 26 or 27 year that the sword had come from a large private collection or an institution, as when the registration requirement came into force there was some rationing of registration access as all could not be done at once. Or the blade may have come out of some farmer's barn rafters too, so perhaps there is potentially value adding info, and perhaps not. Arnold F.

Hello: Wow, what an interesting position introduced by Darcy! There are many strands to the issue and surely it is hard to be dogmatic. As Paul states the problem was related to papers, I think not so many, that were issued outside the Museum in Tokyo. Those papers were done under duress or for out and out reasons of fraud by some parties, and one cannot faulty the NBTHK taking steps to stifle the potential anxiety that might have transferred to all NBTHK papers. That perhaps gave them a chance to change criteria, as was done again only a few months ago and much talked about here, however I have never seen a scrap of data as to how large or even how pervasive the generation of false papers was. I think we have to recognize that Tokyo issued papers when the NBTHK was under the guidance of Drs. Homma and Sato, and into the time of Mr. Tanobe, are probably entirely okay, though of course something might have slipped by them. It would be nice to know where any given Kicho paper, of any level, was issued. If the thrust to continue to winnow out remaining Kicho and Tokubetsue Kicho papers persists we will arrive at, probably have arrived at, comic situations where someone submits a Tokubetsu Kicho something or the other, asks for and gets a Hozon, and that becomes the measure of the blade, whereas the original paper might well have been approved by one of the three mentioned above. That person will have paid for a step down. Given the reality of costs submission for Hozon seems to be the preferred option for Japanese dealers these days. I do recognize that, right or wrong, the old papers have lost their value in the paper chase to Juyo Token as that requires a Tokubetsu Hozon to qualify for submission, however for the larger fraction of existing KIcho papers of any level, Juyo isn't a serious option anyway. Arnold F.

Hello Jean and Stephen: My observation was hardly experimental in any controlled sense, but it was physically obvious that the drag on the Kleenex was noticeably less after oil was removed than when the isopropyl had been used. The statement referred to direction of effect, not degree of effect, and it might, just might, be a significant factor in cutting efficiency. It would take a real experiment to know how strong that effect is, and perhaps what some other variables, like jihada type and polish finish might contribute to the issue, to say nothing of many other variables. I do not keep swords in oil except for a short period after a professional polish, and I use the best polishers I can get access to. The only other use of oil is after returning from a show when the blade's surface might be exposed to who knows what, and it was from that that the observations above were made. Arnold F.

Hello: Like many things related to Japanese swords, what seems unimportant might be just the opposite. I have in the past used isopropyl alcohol to remove oil as an alternative to multiple applications of uchiko. (Lets not get into the uchiko/microfiber issue please.) I then found that when a Kleenex is used on the blade as a last cleaning stroke when the alcohol is long gone, that the coefficient of kinetic friction, ie, the Kleenex "drags" more, is increased noticeably in comparison with when all oil seems to be, at least visually, removed with uchiko. I do not know if the use of microfiber would yield the same result. The bottom line is: could a micro layer of residual oil left on a sword reduce the coefficient of friction and therefore increase cutting efficiency? That would obviously have implications for modern cutting uses for Nihonto just as it would in historical times. Arnold F.

Hello: From the shapes of opens for the copper spacing adjustments it looks as if it might have a Suruga derivation. Just a guess. I don't think the design elements will lead to anything useful. Arnold F.

Hello: The Orlando show show promoted by Bob Elder delivered all that was promised, it was well attended, more than twice as large as his show last year held at a smaller venue, and I saw no vacant tables. Bob went out of his way to make everyone feel welcome and while there might not have been a lot of buying and selling, the displays were excellent and the various events Bob had scheduled were highly educational. Every event I saw provided various useful take always, and not to slight anyone else I particularly enjoyed Joe Forcine's discussion of a half dozen excellent swords, and Mike Yamazaki's sit down discussion of swords brought to him for assessment. Mike's depth of knowledge and ability to draw useful inferences from what he was looking at was highly educational. Contributions made for his verbal comments on the blades brought to him are going to the Kumamoto area of Kyushu which recently suffered a very strong and damaging earthquake. Mike also discussed some of the ins and outs of sword and tosogu assessment and papering in Japan, something that most of us know very little about. That discussion if put into practice could save lots of bucks and disappointments in the paper chase game. Swords weren't the only topic of course and I got the impression that tsuba are still a major focus as they have been for the last ten years or so, but people are becoming more discriminating when buying in the tosogu area as the rising prices for them bring in the unscrupulous just as with gimei and misrepresented swords. While there were folks there from beyond Florida I had the impression that most table holders were from that general Florida area. Some dealers, collectors and other folks were from quite a ways away and to name just a few Grey Doffin and Mark Jones came from the upper Midwest; Markus Sesko now living in North Carolina was there helping out with his terrific ability to usefully clarify Japanese linguistic and historical puzzles; Bill Miller from Tyrone, Georgia had his usual display of something interesting, this time a matchlock that even from close up looked just like an uchi-gatana. Livio Cillio was there from Maryland with many interesting older Buddhist objects and Korean ceramics, and on and on. The usual inventory adjustment equilibrium exchanges were in full swing. That doesn't always generate a big financial number, but it is a highly valuable process that is never mentioned in show promotion. In addition all shows are a vital, really vital, events for both dealers and collectors as you get to know who is who in that world, meet old friends, get a feeling for quality changes in what is brought to shows, a feeling for price changes, and of course you learn more about who has what that you might want down the line. I hope Bob Elder continues to expand the Orlando show and that it will become a 'must go to event ' as are the Tampa, Chicago and San Francisco shows, at least for the collectors in the US and Canada. Arnold F.

Jacques: See my post #10 above. Arnold F.

Jason: If one were to call it Magoroku that would follow primarily from the jitetsu/jihada and not from the hamon. Magoroku is mokume with masame, and according to the Hon'ami tradition the masame is not well fused in places and looks like ware, as does the image shown. The shinogi ji has strong masame, as does the image. All of his hamon are not necessary sanbonsuji, though the one shown appears to be that, and it isn't the monotonous one tall, two short peaks throughout as is common for the later ones. Arnold F.